Phase War - Heaven and Earth
by narrat0r
Summary: The quest of a young man named Axel, and his ordeal in a mysterious world which secrets will surpass his wildest imaginations.
1. Chapter 1 - Exodus

**Heyo everyone, this is a Yugioh-themed story of mine, featuring** ** _absolutely none_** **of the characters you all know and love, and instead focusing completely on OC's. Exciting, I know. Don't run away just yet.**

 **This is the first chapter of the story "Heaven and Earth", focusing on the character Axel, and his attempt to follow his father's notes that will supposedly affect the world on a massive scale. This story features exclusively Synchro Summoning, and I'm hoping to reveal what I plan for the others once this one ends. It will (probably) make sense. I pinky swear.**

 **The concepts of "the arcane", how monsters are able to duel, why are there more than 5 enemies (don't worry, this won't stick around), where monsters come from and how they become cards will all be explained in due time. This is all being said since the concept is very much a departure from the standard Yugioh formula.**

 **With that said, enjoy the first chapter, and be sure to leave a review if you have any compliments or criticisms.**

The night was young in Aether. Oxir, the part of the city far above the surface of the clouds it was floating on, was as serene and tranquil as always - housing only the highest class of both people and the arcane. Lima, the so-named "middle" part of the city laying underneath Oxir, is rowdy and upbeat during these hours, its streets swarming with teenagers and adults alike, gathering to unwind from the day-to-day routines within the walls and towers of Aether. In Lima, the arcane is present solely for the purpose of improving life and keeping things in order.

Karea, the bottom part, is hidden within the clouds themselves and strictly secluded from the citizens, as it serves as a gateway between Aether and the world below - the one people of the city live in blissful ignorance of. It's a long chain of interconnected hallways, leading to various hangars, warehouses and of course, the transportation device known simply as C-1. Here lie arcane-powered security forces, ready for deployment at any moment when necessary, roaming the hallways for intruders at all times - and they're especially busy tonight.

Axel, panicked and anxious, tried to find cover within the hallways and storage facilities of Karea, as the arcane security actively looked for him. He found temporary shelter in a small lab room.

 _"The Doppels already passed this place",_ he thought to himself, _"but they might return... Gotta make this quick."_

Nearby in the lab was a terminal, not unlike the many others spread across Karea. They are operated by access codes and serve for giving out security clearances, interacting with other users and similar functions Karea's workers would need. The means of obtaining an access code from the higher-ups are exclusive to sentient arcane security, so the reason why Axel has one is also why he's being chased at this moment... among other reasons.

"Five... Five... Three, six, eight." He quietly said to himself, inputting the password into the terminal, which soon produced a welcoming jingle as a sign that he was logged on successfully. "Alright, good... But now every single guard is probably informed of where I am."

As he hurriedly swiped the menus of the terminal, he finally ran into the one he was looking for - the map files. Karea was an enormous location, and trying to find one specific room within thousands of same-looking walls was an impossible task for an outsider.

"Alright... It's not too far off", he muttered as he realized the location of the room in relation to his current position. It was a good five minutes of running away, which wouldn't be a problem if there was no security searching the hallways. But he knew he couldn't give up now, as he came closer to the goal than ever before - yet still, he doesn't quite know _why_ he's putting himself in this much danger. For all he knows, the notes left behind by his father could just be ramblings of an aged scientist trying to pass his legacy onto the only person he could trust; yet for some reason, they had a strangely convincing feel and surprising coherency to them that made Axel follow them through, in hopes of reaching his father again.

After skimming over the map and memorizing the long, but relatively simple path towards his goal, Axel took a very careful step outside, looking around for danger. Soon enough, he started running to his last destination - the C-1.

As his boots clanked against the metal floor while getting closer to the device, he had a slight glimmer of hope that the security might've lost him - the hallways were barren and dead quiet. However, considering his position, he knew that couldn't be true, and that he'd have to face them sooner or later. And sure enough, just as he was about to reach the end of a long hallway, a heavy green robot twice his size materialized out of a flash of light, clamping his steel arms together and blocking Axel's path forward.

 _"_ _ **Junk Gardna**_ _...!"_ He immediately recognized the mechanical guard, one of the most commonly used by the security forces for blocking off restricted areas.

 _"I can't waste time getting over it... I have to find another way around",_ he thought to himself, knowing that time was of the essence. He turned around and ran, hoping to find another way - but suddenly, men in black uniforms carrying guns started started showing up from all sides, lead by the arcane officer **T.G. Striker**.

"Axel Orvis!" The elite-equipped warrior addressed the tall blue-haired young man, whom he had many encounters with during the past month. "You are surrounded and under arrest for the violation of Aetherean laws! If you surrender now, the security will have mercy and you will spend the rest of your life in capti-"

-"Not gonna happen, chief", Axel nervously grinned as he cut him off. "I activate **Enchanting Fitting Room**!" - he exclaimed, casting the drawn spell from his hand. He slightly trembled as the card took its toll of 800 LP, but he brushed it off quickly.

"I reveal the top 4 cards from my Deck and Special Summon all revealed Level 3 or lower Normal Monsters!" His deck shone a bright blue color, casting two rays of light on the ground to indicate two appropriate revealed Monsters.

"Alright! I Special Summon **Tune Warrior** and **Mad Lobster**!" - he said as the humanoid robot and a freakish sea spawn materialized in front of him.

-"Give it up, Orvis! There is no monster that can save you in this situation!" - Striker insisted. He didn't genuinely believe what he said, but he knew Axel was at a massive disadvantage.

"Save it. I tune Mad Lobster to Tune Warrior! _Level 6 Synchro Summon!_ _ **Gravity Warrior!**_ " - the two monsters merged into a rapidly spinning circle of light, blinding the surrounding foes for a few moments. As they regained sight, they witnessed Axel's Synchro Monster, the Gravity Warrior, standing firmly in front of them in all its glory. The fierce mechanical Lion-man roared to instill fear into the opposing side and to signify its fury.

"When Gravity Warrior is Synchro Summoned, it gains 300 ATK for each opposing monster! And seeing how there's one of you, six **Doppelwarriors** , and one Junk Gardna, that's 2400 attack points!" - he shouted, filled with confidence of ending the encounter quickly. Gravity Warrior snarled angrily, filling itself up with immense power, reaching 4500 ATK, almost enough to end the Duel. "Now I shall go into the Battle Pha-"

-"Junk Gardna's effect activates! Gravity Warrior is switched to Defense Position!" - Striker exclaimed, much to Axel's shock and surprise, as he had never faced it in an actual Duel before. Junk Gardna started stomping through the hallway, almost tearing the walls apart, to reach Gravity Warrior so that the effect can be applied. What was more important though, was that he was running toward Axel, who had no place to move.

-"Hold it! I activate **Forbidden Chalice**! Gardna's effect is negated!" The green mech was suddenly rendered immobile as a surge of sparkles shone upon it. Axel sighed a breath of relief as Stiker stood angrily.

-"Merely a stroke of luck!"

-"Heh... Call it whatever you want, chief." Axel chuckled and smirked, taking the advantage again. "Alright then, Battle Phase engage!" Axel quickly analyzed the situation for what would be the best target - obviously, destroying Junk Gardna would clear him a path to proceed, destroying Striker himself would leave the warriors without a leader for a short while - they definitely wouldn't be as proficient as him. Still, clearing the way was Axel's priority at the moment.

"Destroy Junk Gardna with _Spatial Rend_!" - he commanded his loyal monster to attack. Soon enough, Junk Gardna was torn to bits by Gravity Warrior's enraged strikes, followed by a victorious roar. "I set a card and end my turn!" A face-down card appeared behind Axel as he started running away again, a bit safer now that a duel was engaged and he had a monster to protect him.

-"I summon **Junk Synchron** , a Level 3 Tuner!" - Striker said, not wasting any time. The small orange robot flew out of a flash of light and ran along with the rest of the security. "I use its effect to respawn an already used Doppelwarrior, and then I tune it to Junk Synchron for a Level 5 Synchro Summon! **Junk Warrior!"**

 _-"Junk Warrior...? I only heard stories about that thing... Here's hoping they're not true..." -_ Axel thought to himself as he heard Striker's voice from a hallway away. _"Hm... Now would be a good time for this."_

Axel stopped and turned around to face the oncoming threat. He pulled back the face-down card, activating its effect. "I activate **Tuner Capture**! When the opponent performs a Synchro Summon, I Special Summon the used Tuner monster from their Graveyard to my side of the field!" Junk Synchron jumped out of a circle of light on the ground, with a determined look in its small eyes. Axel waited firmly for the security to appear, nervous about what Junk Warrior might be.

Suddenly, a loud cracking noise could be heard as the wall of the hallway in front of Axel broke down and quite literally destroyed the one on the opposite side by flying off into it, and a blue flying robot with a huge metal fist burst through the opening. Axel shivered at the sight, knowing it might prove to be a very strong opponent. Soon after, T.G. Striker and the soldiers appeared as well.

-"Junk Warrior's effect activates! He gains the ATK of all Level 2 and lower monsters under my command! That includes me, six Doppelwarriors and two Doppel Tokens created by using one as a Synchro Material, amounting to an increase of 6400, making his total ATK into 8700!"

Axel started panicking - one attack from that monster could wipe him out for good, not just end the Duel. However, he had one last resort remaining, even though he didn't want to reveal it to anyone on the surface of Aether.

-"...I discard **Effect Veiler** from my hand! Junk Warrior's effect is negated!" - he said as a tiny shining sprite flew into Junk Warrior and dissipated, lowering its ATK to the original state of 2300.

-"Where did you get that creature?!" Striker yelled angrily. "There is nothing of that sort in Aether!"

-"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" Axel grinned and stepped back, ready to run again.

-"The nerve... I activate **Synchro Blast Wave**! Target is Gravity Warrior!" Striker cast a Spell Card from his hand, ready to end the Duel here and now - and this time, Axel had no defenses ready. Junk Warrior swung its hulking fist at Axel's Synchro Monster, destroying it with the effect of Synchro Blast Wave. Knowing he was one Battle Phase away from getting caught, he took his one last chance and pulled out a blank grey card from his pocket.

-"I hope you didn't like this Junk Synchron too much... I'll be taking it." He said, pressing the card quickly against the monster's back, making it spin in a flash of shining dust and absorbing it into his own card.

-"What?! He has captured a Security-owned Tuner Monster! For your crimes, there is no absolving! Battle Phase, Junk Warrior attacks directly! _Scrap Fist_!" Striker yelled, at the zenith of his rage. Axel was now open to defeat easily, left with only one option - to run.

He started sprinting away while panicking as Junk Warrior lit up its fist and started fiercely flying towards him. Just as he was about to turn at a corner and save some time, he felt it. The massive, red-hot metal arm of the robot hit his back at full power, slamming him into a wall and quite possibly breaking a few of his ribs, along with burning off the clothes off his back. He yelled in pain as he fell down and started breathing heavily, coughing up blood on the ground, his vision starting to blur. But he had to keep moving.

As Junk Warrior flew back to its owner who was a few hallways back due to the monster's immense speed, Axel barely got up on his legs and started limping towards the door - and not just any door, as it was the access gate into C-1. He pressed the earpiece in his ear with his trembling hand.

-"Hey, Axel, you're in front of the C-1! How'd you even manage?" The voice from other side of the contact spoke.

-"N-not important... Open the d-ugh... Open the door right now...!" - Axel replied with the little strength he had left.

-"What... Are you o- Okay, okay, I'm opening the door, hang tight!" The other person sounded concerned, but knew they shouldn't waste any more time. The clicking of keyboard buttons could be heard from the other side.

Axel heard footsteps incoming - he knew they were coming to finish him off. At 900 LP left, all it would take are two attacks, and he wouldn't want to give Striker the satisfaction. And well, he also had to survive.

-"Any time now, Cody..." Axel mumbled to his partner as the door started opening slowly, but not enough for him to squeeze through.

-"It can't hack it to open any faster! There's nothing else I can do now but close it!" - Cody replied. Striker and the soldiers finally appeared in front of Axel, standing in a formation, ready to fire.

-"Doppelwarrior #1, direct attack." - He commanded him to fire at Axel. The warrior shot a burst of bullets into Axel's chest, making him fall back and leaving him at 100 LP. He couldn't stand anymore. "I'll finish him off myself", Striker added as he started walking toward him, cracking his fists.

"You've made a great effort in escaping us, young Axel, but your little adventure has come to an end. Shame nobody will ever know of what you learned, isn't it?"

Axel held his chest in pain as he spoke. -"Why?! What is the crime in letting people know there is a world below and what's on it?!"

-"It is not up to you to decide what's good for the people and what is not. If everyone else can live happily, not knowing of The Below, why couldn't have you and your insane father?"

Axel knew he said it to provoke him, and kept as calm as he could, even while staring into the face of his own demise. Striker could attack any moment, but Axel kept stalling - it seemed that his adversary wasn't even paying attention to the door.

-"T-then... Couldn't you let me live? I p-promise not to tell anyone about Karea and the world below..." - he started playing the helpless victim game, knowing Striker will take time to make fun of it.

-"How pathetic... But maybe we would let you spend one more day alive in a cell if you tell us where you got that Effect Veiler monster." He said curiously, crossing his arms.

-"A-alright... As soon as you tell me..." He grinned between his words, slightly pulling back. "...where did you get that pointy chin?"

Striker got infuriated again and lunged in to punch Axel, but he managed to pull back far enough to roll into the C-1 room. "Cody, close!" The door slammed shut, leaving the security on the other side.

-"That little ingrate! Not even we are allowed to access that room, how the hell did he do it?!" Striker shouted enraged, hitting the door. "I want a monster that can burst through this gate right now!"

Axel, at the last bits of his strength, looked around the room - it was a large and circular, with consoles and terminals on its sides and a glass chamber in the middle. No sound came from the other side, and it was pleasantly quiet.

-"Cody... I'm in..." - Axel muttered.

-"Good job, Axel... I hope you're okay there."

-"...just a scratch... tell me what do I do now."

-"Look at the paper I gave you, it has all the instructions on what buttons to press and consoles to activate." Axel pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, filled with various but surprisingly understandable scribbles of Cody's. He started dragging himself across the floor, managing to sit on a chair in front of a terminal, panting heavily.

"A-axel... You don't sound okay... Just what happened over there? What did the security use?"

-"Had a bit of a... Run-in with something called... Junk Warrior... But hey, I got this far, don't think I'm stopping now..." - Axel replied, shaking himself awake and starting to follow the scribbled commands.

-"Junk Warrior? I don't know about that one... Are you sure you're in the state to take such a dangerous task?"

-"It's either that or death... And besides, I'd do anything to piss off Striker further." Axel chuckled as he swiped commands across the screens.

-"If you say so... I hope you find out what happened to your dad. Whatever's down there is definitely gonna be amazing."

-"...what about you? They'll definitely be able to trace the signal back to your place. You can't escape this one."

Cody worriedly chuckled and swayed his head. -"Don't worry about that. It's important you got this far, my freedom is not a factor in the operation anymore. Your dad was a great man and I'm happy to have worked with him in Karea for as long as I did... And I'm glad I helped you, if anything."

Axel managed to put on a smile, even though his conversation partner couldn't see it. They say it improves your attitude in talking. -"Yeah... Thanks for all this." After putting in the last command, the chamber in the middle lit up and started producing a spinning engine-like sound. "I did all it said here... What now?"

-"Head to the C-1... It's the round glass room in the middle. Input the coordinates into the access point in front of it.

-"Right, coordinates... Damn it."

-"What's wrong?"

-"They were in my... back pocket and that kinda evaporated in flames." Axel shuddered, remembering Junk Warrior's strike.

-"Oh... W-well maybe you could check the terminals for previous usages? The last one should be by your dad."

The door suddenly started banging. It was obvious the security found a way to break it down.

-"No time for that... It's now or never."

-"I'm sorry, but... your only bet now is to input a random set of numbers and hope for the best..."

-"...With a chance of landing on jagged rocks?"

-"I don't _completely_ know how it works, I never saw what happens down there!"

-"Great..." - Axel pouted as he typed in three sets of two random numbers and entered the machine with the last bit of his strength. He shut the door and hoped for the best. "See ya in a while, Cody..."

-"Good luck, Axel. I'll make sure your coordinates are instantly erased after you leave."

The security bust the door open with a massive four-armed red mech. However, as they couldn't damage any of the equipment in the room and the process had already begun, all Striker could do is watch as Axel's body slowly disappeared into specks of light, as an effect of the translocation. Before completely vanishing, Axel looked at him through the glass door with a grin and said "...see ya, monster-chin."

And so the trail of light shot out from the bottom of Aether, flying around and under it, traveling to its destination on the planet below, hidden from the denizens of the cloud city. Axel was, for this time, just one of the specks of stardust in the night sky, bound to arrive at the secret land by sunrise, beginning an ordeal that would forever change the state of his world.


	2. Chapter 2 - Advent

"You... Let him escape?" - The deep, angered voice broke the several seconds of silence in the briefing room at Lima after Striker explained the critical mission failure that ensued not much earlier.

-"It was a one in a million chance, sir. It will not happen again." - He replied, keeping his composure. He couldn't back down in front of the person he took all his orders from, especially now that the risk of losing his place was higher than ever.

-"Of course it won't happen again..." The ominous voice raised the tension in the small, darkened room. "...because mistakes of this kind will not be tolerated in the slightest any longer."

-"I understand, sir", Striker nodded determinedly. "If I may have your permission, I wish to send troops down to the planet and scout for the runaway as soon as possible. He is heavily injured and couldn't have gotten far", he added, remembering the damage done to Axel by Junk Warrior.

The person in the darkened corner of the room groaned deeply and audibly. -"And now I have the arcanes of all things asking me to let them transport down to the planet like it's not a thing... The device wasn't used in two centuries, some brat and his father start making a mess in Lima, get inside the most secluded area in the city, sneak in past the imbecilic guardsmen and suddenly everyone should start flying down and go sightseeing along with them, is that the case?"

It was very unusual for him to speak in such a visibly upset and condescending way. The general was usually very stoic and mostly treated his subordinates with a kind of passive respect. Tonight, on the other hand, he held anything but respect for the officer.

-"Sir, it was never confirmed that Simon Orvis left Aether. There is absolutely no records in Kare-"

-"Simon Orvis escaped the city", he interrupted Striker. "I don't know how he did it completely unnoticed or why the Grand Council came to a conclusion that his search should be held off indefinitely, but that man is _not_ in Aether anymore. But his son's endeavours might just be the lead we needed to go after him..." His voice was getting progressively calmer as his thoughts went on, as if he was slowly realizing what would be a good next step to take. "You said his coordinates got deleted as soon as he vanished?"

-"That's right, sir", the officer replied, now a bit calmer himself. "We are in the process of tracing back the interference signal to whichever terminal was used to tamper with the relays. The culprit is as good as found."

-"Good, good... Obviously, heading down to the planet after him with no coordinates would be insane, but maybe we can get some leads from the person that helped him. Striker?"

-"Yes, sir?"

-"Gather your A-Team for the next mission. Because if you fail once again, you'll be nothing but an addition to _my_ deck. Don't forget your arcane roots and what they entail."

-"...I understand, sir." His voice sounded more worried than before, and for a good reason. He saluted his commander and left the room quietly.

The man slowly walked out of the shadow, the steel boots of his genetic power-armor clamping against the floor with the sounds of pumping cylinders following each step. He looked with his lifeless mechanical eyes through the window onto the lower part of Lima, pondering on the future of the city in relation to recent events. He sighed and turned back around, thinking to himself, _"I miss when the world didn't look so... green."_

* * *

Axel started slowly regaining consciousness. He blinked his eyes open, not quite sure if it was dream or reality he just lived through. However, as soon as he attempted to move his muscles and the pain from the injury set in, he figured it definitely wasn't a dream.

The surface he was laying on felt strange and alien to him - it was like a sort of prickly but oddly pleasant-feeling carpet. _"I could lay here for a while..."_ \- he thought to himself, feeling a breeze gently blow against his hair. _"...but I really need to get going." -_ he reluctantly admitted, wanting to spend a bit more time relaxing on the strange ground he was on. He pressed his arms against the surface and lifted up his upper body, fully opening his eyes - gazing down, he noticed the funny surface was indeed prickly, and quite green as well. He ran his fingers across it, still getting used to the out-of-place feeling it gave off. He then lifted his look up in front of him, seeing that the surface spreads out far in front of him, forming slopes and inclines. This was all a very bizarre sight for Axel, as nature, let alone regular grass, was not present anywhere in Lima, so the contrast between the two worlds was apparent at first sight.

"Damn... This is pretty new already..." - he spoke his thoughts to himself, slowly getting up and holding his injured chest with his left arm. Seeing nothing of particular interest but large patches of grass and rocks in front of him (even though they looked extremely foreign), he turned around, looking for any clues as to where to head next.

What he saw looking down from the cliff he was on was a gigantic, sprawling landscape filled with ancient trees, massive hills and canyons with wooden bridges spreading all across, all bathing in the light of sunrise that turns the sky from complete black to various pleasant shades of rose. In the distance could be seen a forest that seemed to spread infinitely, with a huge arch-tree in the middle that cast a shadow the length of at least a mile. Axel almost lost his breath for several seconds, being utterly overwhelmed by the amount of beauty before his eyes, the kind he could never imagine, if he hadn't seen it right there. All he could do in this moment was fall on his knees and start laughing, completely enchanted by the majestic splendor of the unknown world in front of him.

 _"Why... Why were they hiding this from us...?"_ \- he wondered, gazing at the colorful horizon. He looked up at the sky, seeing an odd moving white glow accompanied by an audible roar, suddenly disappearing after a few seconds. Axel shook his head and started looking for a way to go.

"Ah, damn it, this is too tall... The drop would kill me in this state", he realized upon looking directly down from the cliff. "...wait, what's that?" - he added, squinting while looking at an odd shape that seemed to be moving upwards from the bottom of a nearby canyon. It kept getting closer quickly, and suddenly Axel fell back on his behind again as a rosy spear-headed drake almost hit him in the face upon ascending from the canyon. It landed in front of him and snarled, screeching menacingly. Axel dragged himself back, waving his hand, trying to keep the creature away.

"Hey, hey, h-hold it! I'm not gonna do anything!" Naturally, the beast did not react in any way but moving closer towards him, the blade on its head now dangerously close to his torso. Axel wanted to engage an attack against it, but he was too weak both physically and mentally to materialize his deck. However, as soon as the creature lifted the weapon, a nearby voice stopped it.

-"Corcesca! Caught something already?" - a female voice with an accent highly unusual to Axel could be heard behind the nearby rocks. "What is it, girl?"

The drake pulled back from its target and flew over to where the voice was coming from. Axel turned around and saw a dark-skinned red-haired girl, standing on one of the rocks with the drake on her shoulder, looking down at him perplexed. His reaction was similar - he stared quietly at her, confused about meeting a human being this soon upon landing on the planet.

-"Uh... Hey there." - Axel confusedly muttered, but at least he knew they spoke the same language, albeit with a very different accent.

-"Who are you?" - The girl said curiously, looking over the injured Axel. "Your robes don't resemble any tribe I know. You aren't with the Primordials, are you?"

Even though she spoke very clearly, Axel had trouble understanding exactly what she was talking about. "Tribes" and "primordials" weren't exactly familiar concepts to him.

-"No, uh... I am from Aether. You know... Up there?" - he replied, awkwardly motioning upwards with his index finger. The girl raised her eyebrow and looked at the sky, confused.

-"Up where?" - She said, looking down to Axel again, doubtful.

He then looked up at the sky himself, and to his massive surprise, there was absolutely no sign of a gigantic, massively populated utopian city anywhere among the clouds, let alone anywhere else. You'd think something of that size would be easily noticeable.

-"What the hell... Are they hiding the actual city from anything outside seeing it as well? But how..." - Axel spoke his thoughts aloud, hoping to give the puzzled girl a bit of insight into what's going on.

-"...are you okay? There is no city in the sky, boy." - She said, slowly approaching him. Axel looked over her - she seemed to be around his age, wore some simple frayed clothes, and had several red markings on her arms and face - something like tattoos, but these seemed to be made completely handmade, without any assistance of technology.

"I'll ask you again, and you should think before you answer, because I may or may not help you out with that injury depending on what you say. Who are you and where did you come from?" She seemed very determined to get answers out of Axel, having a stern and focused look on her face.

"M-my name is Axel... Listen, whether you believe it or not, I am from a city in the sky... I managed to travel down and I'm looking for my father. I don't know what any of these things are, I've never been on the surface of this planet." - Axel spoke with full honesty, trying to convince the girl to believe him. "I'm on a run from the forces of the city chasing after me..."

-"...chasing after you? You mean more people might come here soon?" - The girl asked, curious mostly about that single fact.

-"Uh... They might, but I don't think they know where I am right now."

-"And why are you being chased...?"

Axel thought about how many Aetherean laws he broke to reach C-1 within the span of only one month. Explaining everything that happened would be very complicated for someone in his position, especially to a person who doesn't know if Aether even exists.

-"They're uh... Really bad people." - He awkwardly exclaimed, trying to quickly get the point across. The girl raised an eyebrow again, confused at the whole deal and what to make of it. Axel suddenly flinched in pain again, holding his chest, which the girl noticed.

-"...I don't think I should believe you, but I might as well be humane enough to help you." - She said, approaching and quickly picking him up from the ground, easily holding him over her shoulder. The drake walked on the ground alongside her, this time staying quiet. Axel chuckled at the silly absurdity of the situation and tried to engage her to talk again.

-"So... I told you my name, wouldn't it be nice if I got to know yours?"

She kept quiet for a few moments, but eventually sighed and rolled her eyes. -"I'm Kiva."

-"Glad to meet you..." - Axel smiled and suddenly fell asleep while on her shoulder, completely exhausted.

* * *

Cody sat at the table across Striker, bruised and beaten. Striker crossed his arms and sternly looked at the man who was shivering in fear of what might happen to him.

-"If I haven't made myself clear yet", Striker said angrily, "you will suffer a lot worse than your worthless Genex deck if you don't give us Axel's transportation coordinates soon."

He was referring to the duel that they engaged in while Cody was trying to get away from the rest of the forces. The Genex were Cody's own creations which he was very proud of, but the weakness of his soul didn't allow them to be very powerful and he was quickly defeated by the onslaught of T.G. Striker's Synchro monsters.

-"Even if I wanted to...", Cody spoke through the pain, "...I couldn't give them to you. I told you they're deleted already."

Striker got up and threw two document sheets in front of Cody. -"The paper on top is your work certificate from Karea. You're Cody Tyman, one of the assistant researchers to Simon Orvis, Axel's father. Your clearances make it obvious how much you exactly know about the C-1's functionality." He then approached the handcuffed Cody and switched the paper with the one on the bottom. "Which in turn means that you know how to _hide_ used coordinates, but not delete them from the database, like the commander believes Simon did. So to make it short, you better reveal them back or you're getting a lot more than just bruises."

Cody spread his eyes in shock. He didn't realize that security would get this kind of classified information so soon, as the higher-ups are very conservative about letting any knowledge of Karea leave the confines of Oxir's walls. But what Striker said was true - one could still find Axel's coordinates if they knew how to retrieve them.

-"I..." - He muttered, almost sobbing. "I cannot do this to Axel... Why can't you leave him alone? What's so terrible about the world down there?"

-"You are not authorized to know that." But Striker wasn't authorized either - he didn't know exactly _why_ humans are being kept away from knowing about the planet. He was informed on some of its features in case a search needed to be conducted on its surface, but its true secrets remain a mystery even to most of the people that are actually aware of its existence. "Now, before I'm forced to switch to drastic measures, one last time... I'm asking you to show me the coordinates, because if you do, we might just consider sparing you and letting you return your lovely little home in Lima."

Cody sniffed a few times, holding back more tears. -"...I cannot... Do what you want with me. You won't get the code." He said it reluctantly, but he truly cared for Axel and was ready to endure any kind of torture to protect him.

-"Is that so? Alright then." Striker suddenly left the room, leaving Cody inside, scared and confused. He had no idea what could be the next thing that would happen, and his anxiety rose with each passing second. It was a good minute of almost absolute silence in the room, with the only audible sound being his heart beating in panic. Soon enough, the door opened and Striker calmly walked back in, smirking while looking at the disturbed Cody. He then materialized his side of the field in front of him, shortly blinding Cody with its brightness, and placed a card in the monster zone. " **Psy-Blocker** , Normal Summon."

A metallic humanoid robot with green-glowing stripes along its body spawned in the room from a flash of light. It approached Cody and placed its arm in front of his terrified face, emanating an faint ominous light from its fingertips. Cody's eyes were fully focused on the alluring glow, as he slowly started losing his free will.

"How do we access the coordinates to Axel's transportation, mister Cody?" - Striker asked, realizing that Blocker's ability started working.

-"It's on my terminal... In Lima... The password is... RGenex..." - The hypnotized Cody muttered out. Striker grinned and nodded, pressing Cody's arm against his chest, to force his opponent's surrender in the engaged one-sided Duel. After a few seconds, a faint blue glow flashed near Cody's heart, and the field sides dissipated, along with Psi-Blocker. He blinked a few times and shook his head, unaware of what just happened, but feeling fairly dizzy. "Huh... What did you... do to me?"

-"Not much. Just testing some new security unit prototypes... And this one seems to be working quite well, albeit for a very short time." - Striker replied, chuckling in a smug way. "So in a while, look at the situation you found yourself in and remember you could've very easily avoided it." Striker pulled up the confused, handcuffed Cody and dragged him out the room and through the office's hallway, throwing him into a small flying saucer-like vehicle outside.

-"W-what is this? Where are you taking me?" Cody asked, scared for his life. He never thought he would fall into this kind of situation, and the methods used by the security turned out to be a lot more cruel than he expected.

-"You've landed a lifetime in a lonely cell at the furthest part of Lima's Criminal Response Unit. We just cannot allow an individual like you to try and spread his findings across the citizens of Aether, disturbing the city's utmost peace." - Striker exclaimed bluntly before smirking again. "By the way, just what is _R-Genex_ supposed to mean?"

Cody's heart skipped a beat as he heard Striker say the password to his terminal out loud. He had absolutely no idea when and how he got it, and he might never find out.

-"W-what did you... How... I never..." - Cody was muttering in complete confusion. Striker only followed it up by slamming the saucer hatch shut right in front of his face. The vehicle lifted up and flew off, auto-piloting itself to the CRU.

-"The Psi-Blocker worked, I take it, yah?" - Striker heard a voice behind him ask. He turned around to see a member of **Space-Time Police** , the small group of elite arcane security units, standing behind him.

-"Exquisitely. The commander ordered that the operation commences as soon as we have access to the coordinates. I take it you're the one they're sending down there?"

-"Yaaah, indeed. I do say, I'm quite excited to set foot on the soil of an alien world for the first time! After all, that is what I was made for, yah?" - The policeman replied with an enthusiastic smile, after which he lift his baton up in the air, covering himself with a few streaks of light, and suddenly disappeared.

-"I hate that speech quirk of his..." - Striker said to himself and walked back into the office.

* * *

Axel slowly opened his eyes. It has only been several hours between him departing from Aether and this moment, yet it was already his second time waking up in that period. This time, however, he felt like he had a good night's sleep, and the pain from his injury was almost completely gone. He saw that he was in a dark room, laying on a stone floor with some hay scattered underneath him; of course, he had no idea what that actually was. He got up and saw that his chest and right arm were wrapped in white cloth, and that his torn outfit was laying on the floor near him. In the room was also a brown robe with red patterns drawn across it, and it looked to be his size. He shrugged and put it on, surprised at just how comfortable it is. He put on the pair of moccasins that were laying near the bed, and headed for the wooden door that had a few thin rays of light shining through some of its holes. Pushing it open, he entered a larger room with a table and three chairs set around it. The room was well-lit by sunlight that was coming from the windows - which were, much like the rest of this unusual house, carved from wood and stone.

 _"...huh. Guess this is her place?" -_ Axel thought to himself, looking around the room. "Anyone here?", he added, speaking in a slightly raised voice.

-"I'll be there in a few moments, you can sit by the table", the familiar voice responded from the room across. Axel raised his eyebrow in interest, and walked around the table to look through the house window.

He got a bit startled when he saw that this home was set in the wall of a large canyon, near the very top. There were dozens of similar homes visible in the opposite side of the canyon wall, most of them connected by stone pathways, both natural and man-made. Between the sides were wooden rope bridges, connecting the two walls of the canyon, allowing for crossing between them with ease; admittedly, it's absolute hell for an acrophobic. A few people could be seen off in the distance, crossing one of the lower bridges, and majestic roars could be heard in the distance. Axel smiled at the lovely sight and stepped back to sit by the table. A few moments after, the nearby door opened and Kiva walked in, carrying a plate made of carved stone, with some still steaming food inside of it.

-"...hey." - Axel said, shortly waving.

-"Here, eat this", she replied nonchalantly. "You look like you need some energy."

She slid the plate over to him, along with a wooden spoon. While the food which looked like a fish and vegetable stew was somewhat familiar to him, he didn't quite understand how he had similar stuff to eat in Aether, considering the astronomical difference between the two worlds. Further thinking about it, he realized that nobody ever even asked where the food in Aether comes from.

-"Weird... Uh, sorry, but what is this stuff made of?"

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, a bit weirded out by the question. -"Meat of a common Flying Fish, with some carrots and potatoes. Why, is it unusual?"

-"Uh, no no, I meant more as in... Where did you get it?"

-"...at the shore and in the fields, naturally. You're not the sharpest knife in the drawer, are you?" - She replied, awkwardly chuckling.

Axel swayed his head to the side, thinking to himself. _"...are some Aethereans coming down to the planet to get the food? Why did nobody ever wonder what all that stuff is and where it comes from... Why didn't I?"_

"Are you alright...? You've been acting pretty odd this whole time."

-"I'm... I'm fine, it's just that I'm really confused by all this. It's my first time setting foot on this world after all..." - Axel said, having a spoonful of the meal.

Kiva sat down across him by the table and put her chin down on her crossed hands. -"So... You're _actually_ not from here at all? As in, some other world we don't know about?" - She asked, still extremely doubtful.

Axel shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. I grew up in Aether, a city that travels through the sky... My whole life, I was taught that humans only live in there, and that we're exploring space for other living beings."

Kiva was still suspicious of his story, but she thought it was at least getting interesting.

"I spent most of my life raised by arcane robots, since I never knew my mother, and dad was in a pretty high place so I rarely got to see him. But one day, I found some notes of his left in my room after I woke up, and... That's the day my regular life at Aether ended."

-"Huh? What do you mean?"

-"It was a bunch of really cryptic messages that in the end came down to there being a hidden part in the city's underground that apparently has a device that leads to another world, with instructions on how to get there and what exactly to do... Which involved me dealing with shady people, getting into restricted areas and getting chased by a lot of security."

-"I presume that's the reason you were injured?" - Kiva asked, now a bit careful since she figured she might be talking to a criminal.

-"Yeah. They had to resort to their big guns of sorts."

-"...what's a gun?"

Axel was about to say something, but Kiva's unexpected question caught him off-guard, making him smirk and shake his head. -"It's uh, like a weapon. But hey, I'm really curious about this place, what's with all the houses in the walls, and the flying monsters and stuff?" - He asked, with an excited expression on his face.

Kiva leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms again, looking through the window. -"Well... This is the Dragon Ravine, home of the Dragunity tribe. There aren't many humans here, it's mostly arcane members of the tribe, dragons and riders alike. You... Know what arcanes are, right?"

-"Of course. They're all over the place in Aether, some people use them to duel for fun as well."

-"...fun, huh..." - Kiva said curiously, seeming a bit irritated with the statement. "Anyway, the only humans allowed to live with the Dragunities are the ones who proved their skill to them, after which they're labeled as Leaders and allowed to use their arcane essence to duel."

Axel smiled, impressed by the strange ways of the members of the planet. Growing up in a monotone no-class system where everyone was mostly treated completely equally, this was already very unusual to him.

-"So are you one of those Leaders? I saw that monster of yours back at the cliff."

Kiva nodded and sighed. -"I am still in training, though. The other few Leaders are much more respected than I am, since their souls have become very powerful over time." She then smiled quickly after. "But I'm doing my best."

-"Ah, alright... So how do you exactly empower your soul here?"

As soon as Axel asked that, a loud explosion followed by a sound of scattering plasma could be heard nearby. Kiva instantly got up and headed for the door, Axel getting up along with her, but quickly getting pushed back down on the chair. -"Stay here. You're still injured and there might be danger outside." Confused, Axel nodded and remained at the chair, but quickly ran outside anyway after Kiva had already run off.

-"YAH! Get lost, ugly winged beasts!" - Space-Time Policeman yelled, waving his glowing baton at the Dragunities that had begun fighting him off. "You haven't eaten my target already, have you?!"

Kiva got up a pathway that leads from her home to the top of the canyon, where the sounds of battle were coming from. She reached the top of the cliff where she found Axel, where she saw an oddly-dressed man fighting against the dragons and a few riders. As soon as she appeared, the monsters pulled back and formed themselves into arcane energy, entering Kiva's soul ready for the upcoming battle.

-"Who are you?! Why are you attacking us?!" - She yelled, pointing at the officer.

-"Oh my... You be a pretty odd-looking monster, young lass! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're a human, yah!"

Kiva spread her eyes in confusion. -"What are you talking about? I'm a human, you just saw me use arcane energy!"

The officer just laughed and brushed it off. -"Of course, and I'm a majestic eagle, yah? Now before I have to dispense more justice into your face, tell me where the actual human is!" - He yelled, pointing the baton at her.

Axel slowly appeared at the top of the pathway while following Kiva, now clearly visible to the officer.

"OH MY! There he be! Now be a good boy and turn yourself in so we can all go home!" - He yelled excitedly, shifting the baton towards Axel. Kiva turned around, angrily glaring at him.

-"I thought I told you to stay inside!"

-"I-I had to see what was going on!"

The officer quickly dashed towards him, but Kiva immediately generated the duel field, engaging a battle with him.

-"OH MY! What is this? Why would you want to protect this measly little human, a lawbreaker at that?" - Policeman said, stopping to look at her.

Kiva kept silent for a few moments, looking over to the nervous Axel. -"...what exactly did he do?" - She asked with a serious expression.

-"Ah, interested in the details of justice, I see, very good! He trespassed into forbidden territories, disrupted public peace and wanted to reveal Aether's secrets to the public, he did!"

-"That doesn't seem like something worth chasing a person all the way down to a hidden planet for."

-"Ma'am, these are very serious matters, I do assure you."

She kept quiet again, looking at Axel, who now had a sort of pleading look in his face. The officer was getting closer to him, and there wasn't much place to run; someone had to act quickly if he was to make it out alright.

"Thank you for your coopera-" -"Dragunity Aklys!" Policeman was suddenly interrupted by a flash of green light, from which a thin red drake with a blade-shaped head appeared, roaring at him. Startled, he jumped back and looked at Kiva angrily.

-"What is this?! I thought you were a friend of justice, but NAH!"

-"Whatever he did, and whatever you'd consider a just retribution for it", Kiva said while smirking, "I cannot forgive you for attacking and hurting the tribe!"

-"Hmph! So be it! I shall quick work of you!"

Axel smiled as he saw Kiva's fierce combat stance, fully ready to take on his chaser. He knew this was going to be an amazing battle to witness.


	3. Chapter 3 - Dragonroar

Axel stayed behind Kiva, to make sure he doesn't get hit in the battle. He would take on the Policeman himself, but his soul was still weakened from before, so he had no option but to watch.

-"When **Dragunity Aklys** is summoned, I can Special Summon another Dragunity monster from my hand!" - Kiva exclaimed, fiercely placing another card on the field. "This is the high-class tribal soldier, **Dragunity Dux**!"

From a glowing rip in the air appeared a humanoid-looking creature, with an outfit resembling an avian animal, with the number _1500_ shining above it.

-"Huuh? This is a new one, I do say! These Dragunities you speak of sure look intimidating, but their power is pathetic!" - Policeman said, smirking.

Kiva rolled her eyes. -"I'm not done yet, smart guy. When a monster is summoned by Aklys's effect, it becomes equipped with it!" - She added as Dux jumped on Aklys's back. "Dux gains 200 Attack for each Dragunity card on the field, so now his Attack equals 1900. Furthermore, I activate **Dragon Mastery** , a Continuous Spell! Now all monsters with Dragunity drakes equipped to them gain 500 Attack Points!"

Kiva smirked determinedly as Dux's ATK value rose to 2400. She felt confident about bringing out a relatively strong monster like that on her first turn, and Axel seemed decently impressed as well. However, he felt a bit anxious as Kiva proceeded to pass the turn to her opponent without setting any cards face-down - she had no protection.

-"Foolish, very foolish! My turn!" The Policeman looked at the card he drew and grinned. "I activate my Continuous Spell, **Teleport**! Now if I control no monsters, I can pay 800 Life Points to Special Summon a Psychic-type monster from my hand!"

 _-"Psychic-type...? Those exist?"_ \- Kiva thought to herself, as she wasn't familiar with that kind of monster. Axel got worried, since his encounters with Psychic monsters weren't exactly plentiful, so he had no idea what to expect.

-"I Special Summon the psychic machine, **Master Gig**!" A ball-shaped mechanical monster materialized in front of him, floating itself above the ground. The number _2600_ indicated its power, meaning there was already a monster on the field stronger than Dux. "Then I activate its effect! I can pay 1000 Life Points to destroy as many monsters you control, up to the number of Psychics I control, yah!" - He added, grinning widely.

The monster released a green shockwave by slamming against the ground, and Kiva covered her eyes as Dux got obliterated in a bright flash of light. Axel started panicking, as she was now wide open for an attack.

-"Hold it! When Aklys is destroyed while equipped to a monster, I can destroy one monster you control!" - Kiva said after recovering, and Aklys pierced through the machine and destroyed it before dissipating to the Graveyard. Axel breathed a sigh of relief, but remembered Kiva's opponent has a Normal Summon remaining.

-"Nah! Such recklessness of me! Alright then, I Normal Summon **Silent Psychic Wizard**!" A warrior in glowing armor, carrying some kind of staff weapon, appeared in front of Policeman. "When he is summoned, I can banish a Psychic-Type monster from my Graveyard, yah. There goes Master Gig!" - He said as a mirage of Master Gig appeared atop Wizard's staff, soon dissipating.

 _-"Why would he banish his own card..." -_ Kiva thought to herself, unsure about the powers of Psychic monsters.

-"Now! Direct attack, for 1900 damage!" - Her opponent yelled as the Wizard charged in and swung his spear towards her, hitting her across the shoulder. Kiva shook and stepped back, regaining her composure quickly - Axel figured she's been in similar combat frequently. "Now I shall set two cards face-down and end my turn, yah!"

-"Why do you keep saying _yah_ all the time...?" - Kiva asked, annoyed at his speech gimmick. The Policeman only crossed his arms and smirked, causing her to get even more irritated.

"Well then... My turn!" - She added, drawing a card. "I summon **Dragunity Legionnaire**!" A monster similar to the one from her first turn appeared, this one donning 1200 ATK points instead. "When he's summoned, I can equip 1 Dragunity drake from my Graveyard to him! So come back, Dragunity Aklys!"

The red drake returned and Legionnaire jumped on its back, and his ATK rose to 1700 with the effect of Dragon Mastery. "But I'm not done yet, because Legionnaire's effect activates! One per turn, I can send one equipped drake from him to the Graveyard to destroy a monster on the field!" As soon as she said that, the warrior jumped and launched Aklys straight into Silent Psychic Wizard, making him dissipate in a cloud of green glowing dust. "Then Aklys's effect activates, and there goes one of your face-downs!" - She exclaimed as the drake lunged down and destroyed one of the set cards, revealing it was the potentially devastating Trap, **Dimensional Prison**. However, Policeman laughed.

-"Foolish girl! Wizard's effect activates - the monster banished by his effect returns to the field when he's destroyed! The infernal machine retuuuurns, yah!" - He said excitedly as Master Gig warped back onto the field. Kiva made a frustrated expression, looking at the remaining cards in her hand. If she doesn't find any way to protect herself or finish the duel in this turn, she will be finished in the next one.

-"Ugh... Alright then... I tribute Dragunity Legionnaire to Special Summon **Dragunity Arma Mystletainn** , the advanced Dragunity warrior!" As Legionnaire got sent to the Graveyard, in his place appeared a humanoid dragon monster, wielding a curved blade. Its ATK value was 2100, as it was a higher-level monster. "When it's Special Summoned, I can equip it with a Dragunity monster from the Grave, so once again, Aklys is returned to the field. Furthermore, I activate Dragon Mastery's effect, which allows me to equip **Dragunity Brandistock** from my hand to a monster I control!" One of the cards in Kiva's hand glowed, and soon a small, metal-armored drake appeared and jumped on Mystletainn's shoulder. Its ATK was now 2600 due to Mastery's effect - but still not enough to destroy Master Gig without taking itself out.

-"Nice little chain of effects there... But you performed nothing of relevance, nah! There is no way you ca-"

-"My turn is not over yet, dumbass." - Kiva interrupted him angrily and Axel smirked at her remark. "I activate the Quick-Play Spell, **Shrink** , and apply it to Master Gig! Now its ATK is halved to 1300!" - She determinedly exclaimed as the monster's stats dropped significantly, causing the policeman to panic a bit.

-"No! My most powerful monster!" - He yelled.

-"Now, while Brandistock is equipped to a monster, that monster can attack twice during each Battle Phase! You're done!" - Kiva said excitedly, ready to finish the duel. Mystletainn slashed Master Gig apart, dealing 1300 damage to Policeman - however, he started laughing immediately after that happened.

-"Hahahaha! Foolish girl, did you really think that was the last of my resources? I activate my set Trap Card - **Telepathic Power**!" Kiva and Axel suddenly got nervous. "When a Psychic monster I control is destroyed, one of your monsters is destroyed as well, and I regain Life Points equal to my Psychic monster's ATK!" - He said, spreading his arms victoriously as a green glow enveloped him, raising his LP to 3500; soon followed by Kiva's Mystletainn getting destroyed by a similar flash of light.

Kiva dropped down to the ground, realizing what just happened. She felt devastated to make such a mistake - and Axel didn't feel much better either. He ran up to her and held her by the shoulder.

-"K-Kiva? Are you okay? Come on, you can do it, you still have one card in your hand!" She pushed him aside and clumsily got up, looking at the last card in her hand anxiously. However, it was **Dragunity Tribus** , who was entirely useless at this moment. She was about to lose the duel and Axel would get captured. At this point, he still wasn't ready to accept that he would get taken away so soon after he arrived, so he did the only logical thing that came to his mind - he started walking towards Policeman, ready to take him on himself.

-"Oh, what a dumb little boy. You cannot help your little arcane friend, give it up!"

-"I don't know if I can... But I sure as hell won't go without a fight. And she is a human, you arrogant little-"

Axel was suddenly interrupted by an arm reaching out from the side, stopping him in place. Taken aback, he turned to see what it was, seeing a tall dirty-blonde-haired woman in similar clothes to Kiva's approaching the Policeman.

-"Leave this one to me, children." - She said with a deep, strong and determined voice - if she had been Axel's opponent, he would definitely be very scared right now. Kiva, still on her knees, looked to the woman a tad anxiously.

-"Ferran..." - She said, in sort of a trembling voice. The woman turned to her and smiled lightly. Beneath the tough-looking exterior, she emanated a sort of protective aura, making Axel feel a lot more comfortable about the situation.

-"You did good, disciple." Saying that, she turned to Policeman and glared at him with a very noticeable fury in her eyes. "I don't care where worthless scum like you came from or what you want. All I know is that you assaulted our sanctuary, and for that you can expect no mercy from me." Saying that, she engaged a duel with him, taking initiative after Kiva passed her turn.

-"Hmph! Fine then! If you wish to stand up for this brat for whatever reason, so be it, I shall take you all down, yah!"

-"Shut your mouth, insolent cretin." - Ferran scoffed angrily and placed a monster on the field, spawning an orange drake with a wide, sharp blade for a head. " **Dragunity Partisan** , effect. I Special Summon the rider **Dragunity Militum** from the hand and equip it with Partisan." Watching Ferran's quick and stoic moves, Axel figured she is definitely one of the more experienced Dragunity masters of the tribe. At this point, Kiva had gotten up, and was watching silently. "Militum, effect. Dismount from Partisan and Special Summon it back to the monster zone."

Watching her, the Policeman raised an eyebrow. -"Oh my... That's a Level 4 monster... And a Level 2 Tuner, as indicated by its stat numbers being yellow! This surely means..."

-"I wouldn't get too excited, scumbag. It might just be the last monster you will ever see." - The vengeful tone of her voice sent chills down Axel's spine, even though she was obviously on his side. This is a person he would definitely not want to make angry. "I tune the Level 4 Winged-Beast Dragunity Militum with the Level 2 Dragon tuner Dragunity Partisan!"

Ferran raised her arm upwards proudly as thunder struck out of thin air, causing clouds to split and a mirage of a majestic dragonrider appearing in the sky. "Tear open the sky, swoop down with the sound of furious thunder! Wielding the power of mantra which brings enlightenment! _Level 6!_ _ **Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana!**_ " A red dragon, bigger than any Axel had seen so far, flied down from the clouds onto the cliff, a rider firmly standing on its back, wielding a shining spear. It roared loudly as a display of power, making Axel smile in amazement and Policeman step back in panic.

-"B-Big deal! That is a pitiful 1900 ATK monster! You'd have been better off attacking me with Militum and Partisan, silly woman, yah!" - He nervously exclaimed.

-"Vajrayana's effect activates. When it's summoned, it can equip itself with a drake from the Graveyard..."

The policeman became furious. -"Oh you damn Dragunities and your equipping and unequipping! Will you just make a move that matters already?! This repetition is absolutely infuriating!"

-"...and by removing one equipped monster from itself, Vajrayana's ATK doubles." - Ferran pointed out, smirking. The rider then sent the equipped Partisan to the Graveyard and thrust his spear into the sky, imbuing it with a strike of lightning. Spinning it around, the weapon formed a vortex of thunder, and the monster's ATK rose to a fearsome 3800. The Policeman started panicking and Axel had the most amazed expression on his face.

-"Just what is that monster?" - He asked Kiva, who was also smiling.

-"Vajrayana, one of the sacred Dragunity Knights, the most powerful monsters of the tribe. Ferran is the first one who awoke hers... And I'm training to awaken my own."

Policeman had no way out of this. -"W-w-wait! I am sorry, I won't attack your village anymore, nah! I'll go back where I came from and never return, yah?"

Axel suddenly stepped forward in front of Ferran. -"Wait! Don't attack him yet! I want to ask him something."

Ferran didn't seem too pleased with his request. -"Boy, whoever you are, stay away from this. This fiend has nothing that could be of importance to you."

-"How do you know that? You don't even know me or him!"

Kiva stepped in and moved Axel to the side. -"Ferran, forgive him. Just give him a short time, I know he won't take too long." Axel nodded in agreement.

Ferran sighed and stepped back. -"One minute is all I give him." Axel approached the distressed Policeman, crossing his arms.

-"How did you find me? The coordinates were deleted, were they not?"

The Policeman was on the ground, facing Axel while holding himself up with his arms from behind. -"N-nah! Your friend lied to you, he could only hide the coordinates, not erase them!" Axel raised his eyebrow, worryingly.

-"What... Why would he... Where is Cody right now? What have you done to him?!" - He shouted at the stumbled officer while Kiva and Ferran watched in confusion.

-"S-striker got the information out of him and then the guy was arrested for assisting you! He's been put in the Response Unit, yah!"

-"How did you get the info about the hidden coordinates out of him?! Tell me! Cody wouldn't just give it up, I know it!"

-"I-if I tell you, will you let me return back to Aether?"

Axel turned back towards the two warrior ladies behind him - the taller one seemed very anxious to finish off the blabbermouth in front of them. He then sighed and looked back down upon him.

-"You're not leaving this planet, however one might do that. If you tell me all I need to know, your destruction will be slightly delayed, I guess."

The policeman looked to have gotten a bit angry with that statement, but there wasn't much he could do at this time, with a spear of thunder ready to strike him any moment now.

"Why did you keep calling Kiva an arcane? She is most definitely a human, as is her mentor over there."

-"Well... Because there are no humans on the planet! They were all most definitely wiped out, it is statistically impossible to run into one, let alone two healthy, living humans this soon upon landing!"

Axel spread his eyes open, extremely confused about what the downed man just said.

-"Humans... wiped out?" - He asked, nervously.

-"The-" - Policeman was suddenly stopped from talking by a stinging feeling in his chest. He stood up and started trembling as his texture slowly started falling apart, as he was an arcane construct. Axel pulled back in shock, staring at the person who was slowly becoming a humanoid-shaped green glow without any recognizable features from before present on him.

-"What the hell... Ugh, Vajrayana, attack! _Judgment of Thunder!" -_ Ferran instinctively attacked, unsure of how to act in this situation. The duel was very much still going on, even though Policeman was being reduced to a living flashlight. Soon enough, the dragonrider soared down and pierced through the enemy, causing the thunder to flow with great force through what remained of his body, reducing his LP to 0. This was followed by an explosion of light where he was standing, along with a very audible " _NAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

Axel, immensely confused, looked at the remains of the battle, seeing a faintly shining floating blue crystal where Policeman used to stand. Ferran and Kiva approached it as well.

-"What... Is that?" - Axel asked, having never seen such an object.

-"It's an arcane core, obviously. But... Why does it look so weak? This person had a pretty strong deck..." - Kiva replied, wondering.

Axel got closer, inspecting the crystal. -"Oh... So that's what they look like. Never saw one in person... And, well, that guy wasn't a human, he was an arcane construct."

Ferran and Kiva turned to him, both of them being very doubtful of what he just said. -"What are you talking about, boy? How could an arcane creature use an entire deck?" - Ferran asked, chuckling at the apparent absurdity of Axel's statement.

-"...why wouldn't it?" - He replied, used to arcane monsters being not only able to duel, but also being very proficient at it.

-"Axel... Arcanes of this world cannot duel. They're just its denizens which humans can learn to take into their souls and use in combat." - Kiva calmly explained. Axel raised his eyebrow in surprise, having heard another unusual detail about the planet he was on.

-"This world? What do you mean, Kiva? Where is this boy from?" - Ferran asked, hearing Kiva explain something extremely common to Axel. Kiva sighed in return.

-"It might take a while to explain... We better get to The Hall and have him explain the situation to the elders."

Axel shrugged and nodded. Ferran was unsure of what was going on, but agreed to Kiva's suggestion. -"If you consider it _that_ important, I guess I believe you. Let's go, then."

-"Uh, wait, what about the arcane core?" - Axel asked, pointing at the crystal. "We can't just leave it here, can we?"

-"You take it if you want. Dragunity warriors have no need for such tainted power in their arsenal." - Ferran replied. Kiva added no comment but she seemed to share her opinion.

-"A-are you sure? That's a soul containing an entire deck in it..." - He asked again, apparently not getting the message.

-"...you _really_ aren't the sharpest blade. Just take it. He has nothing that could possibly be of use to us, even if we wanted the core." - Kiva replied, rolling her eyes.

Axel nodded lightly and turned back to the crystal, gently reaching his hand out to it. Its light started wrapping around his arm, slowly coming near his chest; the crystal itself then turned to glittering dust as it was carried by the light into his soul, empowering it by a small amount. Axel smiled, enjoying the feeling of absorbing a new source of power, and materialized the cards from it into his hand; however, to his surprise, it wasn't a deck, but only two cards instead.

-"Huh...? What? I thought cores contain entire decks?"

-"What's wrong?" - Kiva asked, looking over his shoulder. Axel turned around and showed them two cards - **Krebons** and **Emergency Teleport.**

-"There's only two cards here..." - He exclaimed, presenting the cards to them. "I know that when a person dies, their soul deck corporealizes and can be taken, but this one just left behind a single Spell and a Monster..."

Kiva bobbed her head to the side, crossing her arms. -"Didn't you say he was an Arcane... _Construct_ that can actually duel? Maybe it has something to do with that." Kiva's words were mostly speculation based on what she had heard from Axel, but they made him remember he never actually saw an Arcane Construct defeated before.

-"Guess you're right... Maybe Constructs just function different in this regard." - He replied, shifting his look to Ferran, who still seemed to be suspicious of Axel's words.

-"...you say you hail from another world, yet you display unawareness of anything that's alien to this one as well..." - Ferran said, sighing, as Axel awkwardly looked at her, not wanting to have to go and explain his background all over again.

"...but I'll tolerate it for now. The Elders might take your story with some more suspension of disbelief than I did. Now let's head down." - She added, turning around and heading towards the path leading into the village. Kiva motioned with her arm towards Axel, signaling him to follow her, to which he nodded and started walking alongside her, both walking behind Ferran now. They were all completely silent, but Axel didn't feel much tension in the air - In fact, as soon as they headed back into the ravine, he kept getting amazed at the sights of drakes crossing the canyon, as the gentle cold winds of the crevice brushed against his face and branches and stones made crackling noises underneath his feet. Kiva looked over to Axel and couldn't help but smirk at his bewildered gaze.

Five hours had passed since Space-Time Policeman was sent to the planet below, which is way past the time he was ordered to return to confirm the state of the situation. Scientists hurriedly swiped across their consoles and tried getting any kind of signal from C-3, but Striker exhaled deeply and disappointedly shook his head.

-"Give it a rest. He's eliminated. That guy won't be coming back no more." - He said in a neglectful tone, storming out of the communications room in Karea, leaving the scientists puzzled as to what went wrong. He knew exactly what, though.

He entered an elevator chamber, the same one Axel passed through around two days ago when he was infiltrating the section. He typed in a command that would raise the lift up to a secluded location in a seemingly inconspicuous building in Lima, secretly being used for transportation to Karea and back. As the lift was going up, he noticed a curious detail - the doors to the lift were missing. The logical conclusions that came from this were that Axel broke the door, and that Karea needs better security measures against consecutive monster attacks.

Going through the streets with people respectfully moving out of his way used to make Striker feel powerful, important. He'd know that he is a figure the society can look up to, and an object of terror to those who dare oppose the peace and quiet of Lima; but now, all he felt was rising anxiety as he was getting to the command tower near the border to Oxir. The commander had explicitly stated that Striker needed to bring his most proficient team to the mission, and that more failures will not be tolerated. Sadly for him, everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

Before approaching the ever-so-ominous briefing room, Striker thought to himself - why are Constructs even given emotions in the first place? Aren't they supposed to be unbiased servants of humans in a world that urges tranquility? Or are they made so that people don't have to feel as if they're stepping into the uncanny valley whenever they approach a sentient arcane? Whatever the case, right now, he cursed the sheer concept of emotions, as his will for justice combined with his distaste of dropping expendables into unknown territory lead to another mission failure.

The metal door of the briefing room slid open, revealing the stoic commander standing next to the window overlooking the city, waiting for Striker's report.

-"Sir", Striker spoke as determinedly as his voice allowed him to, "Space-Time Police unit T-X3 has failed; we lost all life signals. The search will immediately continue with further, better-equipped and fully combat-ready personnel."

The robotic commander turned around to face Striker. He seemed to be unshaken by these news, which Striker sort of took as a sign of relief.

-"Striker... Did I not enforce the usage of your A-team at the beginning of this mission? What exactly went wrong in the procedure?" - He asked, with an almost threateningly calm voice.

-"With all due respect, sir", Striker replied, and definitely meant it, "The absolute inability to maintain contact with a planetary mission unit, along with the C-3 being limited to a single person at a time, as well as a massive time of usage cooldown between two transportations leave us with extremely limited options to successfully carry out this task the way it was ordered." - He thoroughly explained the situation, hoping for the commander's understanding.

-"So, what you're telling me is that your planned-out way of going about this mission is repeatedly sending experimental mission constructs to the planet, one by one, until one of them manages to return alive and healthy?" - He asked, with obvious irritation in his voice.

-"I am afraid that is the only option for now, sir. The C-3 is a primitive transportation device and it wouldn't-"

-"I know what the C-3 is, Striker! And I also know you're not thinking about this nearly as hard enough as you can, and should!" - The commander angrily yelled out, displaying his frustration. This left Striker confused and slightly scared.

-"...Sir, I-"

-"No _I's_ from you anymore. I used to give you freedom on how you could approach your tasks every time because I was genuinely impressed by your ability; but now I see this little gift might've spoiled you. So, now - You will follow the order I give out, or you're losing all traces of consciousness as you become but a simple addition to my arsenal." - Striker's commander added, extending his arm in front of his subordinate, emanating a green glow from his palm.

-"I- Understood, sir." - Striker replied, fearing for his freedom, the one thing he truly cherished as a Construct.

-"You will take all formidably capable arcane forces you can gather, no holding back or saving up any resources whatsoever; Absorb them into your deck, and go down and find that pest of a child, AND his insane father too... If he's even alive. And do not even think of returning without satisfying results."

Striker was shocked at the idea of simply molding all elite police Arcanes into cards and going on a mission alone, but the real reason why he couldn't deal with the concept was the primitive nature of the task.

-"Sir, I would gladly accept this mission, but how would you know if I'm still alive or not? There's no efficient way of communication, all technology gets evaporated to the point of uselessness when being transported, and we have no way of deducing if the coordinates we'll use are safe." - Striker pointed out, being exceedingly careful about the circumstances of the mission and to what kind of results it could lead. However, his mechanically-enhanced leader simply smirked at the notion.

-"Because I know you; and your way of dealing with problems first-hand when you're not holding back. It doesn't matter if the coordinates have you end up at the bottom of the deepest pit of the planet, because I know you're capable of finding a way back up. So once you actually find that kid, I don't want you to treat him with any mercy or prolonged discussion about his motives; I want you to _take care of him._ Is this perfectly clear?"

After a few seconds of contemplation, Striker simply nodded. -"...Sir. Yes, sir." The notion of getting sent to a random spot on the planet and having an objective to find a single person seemed ridiculous to him, but he didn't have much of a choice left.

-"Very good. I shall inform the scientists to prepare a transportation to coordinates somewhat nearby the place where you sent your... _Elite unit_ , but still far enough as to not fall into any kind of trouble he might've had." - The commander explained, walking back towards the window, smirking still. "Now get out and gather your forces... And begin the hunt as soon as possible."

-"Understood. Sir." - Striker nodded again, leaving the room. He sighed deeply, almost as if realizing he might have to face a shameful demise at the hands of a foreign world, solely because of his inconsiderate, brash leader. But then again - it was all in the name of justice, he thought.

-"Well then..." He said to himself, contemplatively, scanning the city map on his wrist for elite Arcanes present in his database. "...time to get to work."


End file.
